Multi-Chem describes itself as “the global leader in EGR” – where EGR stands for Enhanced Gas Recovery technologies such as hydraulic fracture stimulation, also called hydraulic fracturing, known and loathed by many of us as “fracking”, but referred to by dirty energy insiders as simply “frac”. Prior to its acquisition by Halliburton last October, being a frac specialist – with an extensive network of storage facilities and a fleet of frac trucks filled with ecosystem-destroying amalgams of toxic frac fluids and poisonous frac additives – made Multi-Chem one of the largest oil & gas production chemical companies in the world. Their “success” had little to do with any questionable claims they “Think Safety”.

On 14 June 2011 the Multi-Chem blending plant in New Iberia LA was rocked by a series of explosions that filled the skies with huge fireballs, thick black smoke and deadly toxins.

“Louisiana state police and Iberia Parish emergency management officials said the first blast was reported about 4 p.m., followed by several more explosions. The plant is near the Acadiana Regional Airport, which was shut down as a precaution… ‘It was a big explosion, I mean a big one,’ said Odis Lounsberry, who was in his front yard near the plant. He said several smaller blasts followed… Lounsberry, who said he is an inventor by trade, said he got a bad taste in his mouth after feeling drops of a liquid hit him… ‘It was like a bitter taste, just a foul taste,’ he said… Mary Celeste Clement, a children’s book author, lives about 2 miles away and said she evacuated to Lafayette after she saw smoke pouring from the plant… ‘I packed my bags and left,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to take the chance.’”

The “accident” at the Multi-Chem blending plant in New Iberia released xylene, methanol and toluene into the environment requiring evacuation of everyone within a 1-mile radius.

“The chemical fire burned nearly 24 hours before it was deemed safe for hazardous-material firefighters to extinguish it… The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has maintained its monitoring presence on the site, and containment ditches used to capture run-off from the incident have been cleared and verified free of contaminants, stated Rodney Mallett, a DEQ spokesman in an email response… The response now moves from an ’emergency response phase’ into a ‘remediation phase,’ Mallett stated. Multi-Chem stated that it will work with the DEQ to develop a ‘comprehensive plan to analyze the effects [on] the subsurface.’ About 20 people work at the site, which includes a chemical storage facility, blending plant and office building.”

Now part of Halliburton, Multi-Chem is breaking ground on a new facility south of I-10 between Maurice and Indian Bayou to replace the New Iberia plant they blew up.

“The chemical company Multi-Chem, recently bought by Halliburton, is building a new facility in Vermilion Parish. This new location off highway 92 will have an office, field laboratory and blending facility on 64 acres of land [http://goo.gl/maps/oRDe]. Multi-Chem said it will eventually replace the New Iberia facility [that was destroyed in an “accident” last year]… Construction is still in the very early stages, but there might not be much that residents can do because there are no zoning restrictions in Vermilion Parish… ‘They can locate next to a residential area because we don’t have zoning in our parish,’ explained Police Jury President Nathan Granger.”

The Multi-Chem plant being built in Vermilion Parish will blend a witch’s brew of deadly toxins right on top of Chicot Aquifer, Southwest Louisiana’s sole freshwater source.

Letting the same people do the same thing over and over again expecting different results is one definition of insanity, and nobody is aware of the implications here more so than mental health professional Marcella Manuel. She lives half a mile away from what could be Multi-Chem’s next Ground Zero, and is determined to evict them before their next toxic blending bungle forces her to evacuate. Ms. Manuel, a licensed practical counselor in Maurice LA, has founded Citizens Against Multi-Chem (citizensagainstmultichem@gmail.com) to alert environmental groups, warn those living in Vermilion, Acadia and Lafayette parishes of the imminent threats to their water supply and public safety, and organize an effective multi-front resistance.

If you’re a proponent of depopulation, then perhaps the present population of the Cajun Oil Patch and their potentially pollution-mutated progeny are as good a starting point as any. Otherwise, consider this:

WHAT WAS THE COST OF 20 MULTI-CHEM JOBS IN DAMAGES AND LOSS TO NEW IBERIA? WHAT WILL IT BE FOR VERMILION PARISH?

Like BP and Halliburton, in the ruthless pursuit of dirty energy and pollution profits Multi-Chem has already done irreparable harm to ecosystems in Louisiana, across America and around the globe. And in return for the now fleeting prospects of cheap gas and steady paychecks, we’ve let them get away with it for years. We must stop this insanity, and we must stop it NOW. If not us, then WHO? If not now, then WHEN? And if not for ourselves then for our grandchildren, who’ll be spitting on the toxic earth we’re buried in if we don’t.